Omoyele Yele Sowore, a Nigerian politician and human rights activist, has heavily criticized the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, accusing him of allowing the coup plot in his country as a “political diversion to shift public attention away from his growing unpopularity.”
In a Facebook post following the news of the attempted coup in the Republic of Benin, the Founder and Leader of African Action Congress likened the ongoing Benin situation to that of the recent coup in Guinea-Bissau, where the ousted President was accused of staging the coup to prevent him from handing over power to the opposition candidate.
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“There are strong indications that President Patrice Talon, a deeply shady figure and a close ally of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu [President of Nigeria], may have been aware of the coup plot, allowed it to unfold, and then used it as a political diversion to shift public attention away from his growing unpopularity,” – Sowore wrote.
In this sense, instability becomes a calculated tool of political survival rather than an unforeseen threat to democracy.
For the founder of Sahara Reporters, the military rule in any form is not something he can ever support, saying, “coups are never a solution to political failure”.
“Of course, I am opposed to military rule in all its forms. I am allergic to it. Whether invited, staged, or exploited, coups are never a solution to political failure. The answer to bad civilian leadership is not guns, military jackboots, and camouflage, but accountability, popular struggle, and genuine democracy.”
Early this morning, reports of a military takeover in the Republic of Benin led by Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri. However, a few hours later, the country’s Interior Minister at a news conference said the Benin Military Forces aligned to the Government have taken control over the situation and that the attempted coup was staged by a small group within the Army.
Read his full post:
The so-called coups in Guinea-Bissau and the latest episode in the Benin Republic share disturbing similarities. In Guinea-Bissau, the phony coup unfolded after a criminal former president effectively invited the military to intervene to avoid announcing elections and relinquishing power to an opposition figure with a popular mandate.
It was not a seizure of power to restore order, but a manipulation of force to escape democratic progress.
The situation in Benin raises equally troubling questions.
There are strong indications that President Patrice Talon, a deeply shady figure and a close ally of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may have been aware of the coup plot, allowed it to unfold, and then used it as a political diversion to shift public attention away from his growing unpopularity. In this sense, instability becomes a calculated tool of political survival rather than an unforeseen threat to democracy.
Of course, I am opposed to military rule in all its forms. I am allergic to it. Whether invited, staged, or exploited, coups are never a solution to political failure. The answer to bad civilian leadership is not guns, military jackboots, and camouflage, but accountability, popular struggle, and genuine democracy.
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